SUBHASH MISHRA
Dhanbad, Aug 18: The retired employees of Coal India Limited (CIL) have expressed disappointment over the attitude of the Coal Mines Provident Fund (CMPF) Board of Trustees for not deciding on increasing their minimum pension amount.
Coal Pensioners Association today said that the retired employees of Coal India Limited had high hopes from the Coal Mines Provident Fund (CMPF) Board of Trustees that at the meeting held in Nagpur on August 16, they would take a decision on increasing the pension but did nothing.
“At present, the retired coalmen are receiving merely Rs 49 as pension. We had hoped the Board of Trustees will fix a minimum of Rs 1000 on basis of the current situation. Over 1.26 lakh retired employees of CIL including Bharat Coking Coal Limited (BCCL), Central Coalfield Limited (CCL) and Eastern Coalfield Limited (ECL) would have benefited from this. But the Board of Trustees disappointed us,” said Ramanuj Prasad, president of the Coal Pensioners Association.
The association office-bearer said that the proposal that the Board of Trustees has sent to the ministry of coal on pension is the same that was sent four years ago in 2018.
However, the association praised the trade union leaders for opposing the CMPF and the ministry of coal to write off disinvestment in the private sector and demanding a CBI probe of the decision. CMPF had invested around Rs 762 crores in DHLF which could not be recovered. CMPF and the ministry of coal have written off the loan.
“Coal Pensioners Association urged the central government to conduct a proper investigation of this scam and punish the responsible persons involved in it. The Association also demand whatever fund was disinvested should be given in the scheme so that pension fund could be increased,” said Ramanuj Prasad.
He said the Coal Pensioners Association will go with its plan of demonstration before the CMPFO Dhanbad for revision of pension amount.
